St. Paul daily globe., 1887-08-03
KICKS ON THE GAME.
Coacher O'Conneli and Umpire
Power at the Ball Grounds.

No picture has yet been made by any
artist that can give any adequate rep
resentation of Mr.. O'COnneil. of the
Oshkosh team, when he was getting in
his heaviest work at the base bali game
in West st. Paul yesterday. Mr.. O'COn-
nell is one of the coacherS for the OSh-
koSh team. For the benefit of those
who do not understand the technical
terms of base ball it should be said that
the ''coacherS" are men selected to give
advice to the base runners as to how to
run the bases, telling them when to
''go" and when TO ''hOld it, ''Slide,"
etc. MIR. O'COnnell gave this sort of
advice to the Oshkosh men yesterday, as
every resident of West st. Paul can bear
witness. Mr. O'COnnell is not suffering
from any disease of the lungs, and he
does not care who knows it. He stood
at the proper place, near first base, and
for nine consecutive innings rent the
beautiful atmosphere with yellS, howls
and shriekS that would have done credit
to a long primer COmanche Indian. The
people in the grand-stand were at first
frightened at the noise, then pleased
with his endurance. then dlSgusted with
his gall and persistency. He was try
ing to rattle the st. Paul team, but he
only ratified few Of the
loose timbers in the grand
stand. People who had never seen
a game of ball. and formed their ideas
fyom yesterdays game, would have
pronounced the diamond a dwelling
place for hoodlums. When the coach
ing; was at its height people who did
not know what was going on thought
there was a lynching, or something of
that sort, and report was circulated at
one time within the grounds that a war
rant was out for O'Connell'S arrest for
diSorderly conduct. This proved to be
not so. Mr.. 0'COnnell is pretty good
bali player, but it is a waste of raw ma
terial to allow so much good wind to be
squandered on sultry day. He ought
to wait until winter, and then go UP to
Dakota and be a blizzard.
THE UMPIRE.
Speaking of yesterdays game. one is
reminded of the umpire-Mr. Power.
He did not have the sympathy of the
grand stand, but still he was not
lynched. In private life Mr.. Power
may be an intelligent, Christian gentle
man, but wanted to do too much of the
work the players ought to have done
yesterday, all by himself. This is not
rejecting on the private character of
tl1t db oil. 1Ol may OC ali
that can be desired in the winter, when
there is no base ball going on, but he
ought to live in some of those re-
giOns of perpetual snow, where they
don't play base ball. One would think
that the amount of guying he got yes
terday from the grand stand would for
ever wreck his enthusiasm in the ma
tional game, so that he wouldn't enjoy
the play if he got in the spectators
seats. When he had made several rank
decisions yesterday nearly all the grand
stand, which is generally very quiet and
inclined to give even the umpire fair
show, began to jeer at him until the noise
from the seats nearly drowned out the
coaching of O'COnnell. Mr.. Power
made two of the four runs credited to
Oshkosh yesterday. Once when Nc
Carthy was clearly out at second base
Mr.. Power wouldn't have it so. and
gave him a chance to score, and IN
another inning, when the same runner
was plainly out at the home plate, Mr..
Power also allowed the score
to count. The audience to a
man, even some who had bet
good money on the Oshkosh team, knew
that these two decisions were of the
rankest kind, and did not hesitate to say
so in terms so vigorous that they twisted
the wire screen as they fioated out from
under the roof. After this Mr.. Power
seemed to exercise his own sweet will
on balls and strikes, regardless of how
nearly they were thrown over the plate.
This is a bad thing for any umpire
to do. 1t is not according to the rules
and creates sort of prejudice against
him, on the part of the spectators, that
it is often difficult to overcome. Mr..
Power found this so yesterday. If yes
terday's exhibition was a sample of
what Mr.. Power can do in-the way of
umpIring, some kind friend should
quietly tell him that the people who
pay their money to see base ball games
have got enough, and while they may
have respect for him in private life, this
is too grand base ball town for him to
umpire i'll any more. He probably